Gubernatorial Primary: Dunne, Shumlin and Markowitz in the news

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  • Matt Dunne has launched http://www.vermontfuture.org/, which asks visitors:

    What are the best ways to help Vermonters find good jobs and lower costs at home? How do we preserve our beautiful state and build a better Vermont for the next generation? What are your ideas for running a more efficient government?

    Impressively, the not-yet announced candidate also sports a link to a Facebook group already boasting 365 members. This compares to 276 members for Deb Markowitz’s Facebook group and 126 members in Doug Racine’s. Whoa.

    Totten reports that Dunne has opened a campaign bank account and is still considering, but GMD hears that his campaign paperwork is already en route to the Secretary of State’s office. Look to November for a formal announcement.

  • And speaking of November announcements, vtbuzz reports that Peter Shumlin is “99.99 percent in the race” and will announce some time next month, before the November 19th candidate forum hosted by the Vermont LCV.
  • And Deb Markowitz has stirred up a lot of conversation with last week’s Manchester Journal interview, in which she drops a couple policy bombshells that raised eyebrows. First, she suggests reducing unemployment benefits to close the next budget hole (emphasis added):

    I was personally shocked by (State Auditor Thomas) Salmon’s proposal (to trim unemployment benefits from $425 per week to $300 per week). To resolve this deficit it’s likely everyone will have to give something. We may need to reduce benefits and we may need to rquire [sic] employers to pay in a little more to get us through – hopefully there will be additional money coming from Washington to help out.

    …and immediately follows that with something that isn’t going to make the NEA happy:

    JOURNAL: Is funding the teaching retirement fund via the property tax off the table?

    MARKOWITZ: I don’t know if it’s permanently off the table but certainly doing it the way Gov. Douglas proposed is off the table.

    I, uh, er, ah… seriously?

2 thoughts on “Gubernatorial Primary: Dunne, Shumlin and Markowitz in the news”

  1. …and today is Saturday.  And nothing but crickets!  Deb actually takes at least a partial, tentative stand on SOMETHING — instead of her constant feel-good platitudes — and as odum says, seriously?  Reducing unemployment benefits and funding teacher retirement with property tax revenues is not bound to be popular with a lot of folks.  Is someone going to praise her for having the guts to take a position that might not align with her base?  Or is someone going to criticize her for this?  Will some intrepid correspondent follow-up with more questions for her?  Just asking…

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